


Off the Chain

by VictoriannWings



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Disabled Character, Dog Walking, Dog Walking AU, Dogs, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 05:06:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13357122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VictoriannWings/pseuds/VictoriannWings
Summary: Well, Lance was in a lot of trouble now. He'd been walking dogs for a whole year now, and never run into a dog he couldn't handle. Dog training had come naturally to him. Except when a very large, very excited deerhound decides to test his skills--and the very hot owner decides to test his professionalism. Lance can't handle this dog, or his feelings, when Shiro is involved.





	Off the Chain

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone! This is one of the three fics I wrote for the Aphelion zine. Stay tuned for the others! Please enjoy and comment!

Lance had no idea whose idea it was to breed a dog as big as a deerhound, but it certainly wasn't his. 

 Big, fluffy, gray, and strong, Hades on all fours reached Lance's waist with ease. Standing on his back legs, Lance guessed, the dog would probably be taller than him. Powerful and excited, the dog strained against his collar as he half-dragged Lance down the street. 

 Okay, to be fair, the thought had occurred to Lance that this dog might be too much for him. He'd spent quite a bit of time training in dog obedience and behaviour, and advertised that he was one of the best dog walkers in the area for this reason--and he was. He'd been known to tame even the craziest or most violent dogs, and owners with problematic puppies often headed his way. Many of the other dog walkers in the area had lost clients to him, even. But he'd never seen a dog this big. Really, he was more of a small horse. And distracted by every single thing he'd ever seen. Lance held onto the thick rope of a leash for dear life to keep the dog from running off or traipsing into the street. As it was, he barely managed to keep up with Hades as they rushed down the sidewalk.

 This was his second day since Hades had been dropped off with him. Lance ran a dog watching service out of his small home, and a new client had called him to set up an appointment. His silky smooth voice had told Lance that his name was Shiro. 

 And Shiro arrived, Hades on a purple, thick, woven leash. He ducked to the enter the doorway, and Lance swallowed, peering up at the tall, well-muscled man. 

 "Hi, hello, please come in," Lance chattered, gesturing wildly as he opened the door to accommodate them. "Is this Hades? You must be Shiro." His hands buried themselves in the dog's thick, curly fur. Lance was surprised at how soft the dog’s fur was.

Shiro nodded, flipped his bangs out of his eyes, and smiled at him. Lance could feel his insides melting. "Yes, this is Hades. And you must be Lance! It's very nice to meet you."

 Wow, gorgeous and polite? Lance couldn't breathe for a second. He pet Hades to stall for time. Finally, he managed, "He seems very well-behaved. You weren't kidding when you said you had a big dog, though." 

 Shiro nodded, then gave Hades a hand signal to sit. 

 Once they'd worked out the details, Shiro handed Hades over with his heart in his eyes. "Be good, okay?" He kissed the dog's head, tousled his hair, and straightened. "Thanks for watching him. I hope he's not too much trouble."

 Lance beamed up at Shiro, accepting Hades as sweetly and graciously as he could. "I'm sure he'll be perfect," he purred back, hoping his flirting wasn't too obvious. 

 Not that flirting with Shiro had made much of a difference now, as Lance was half-dragged down the street. Hades followed directions and commands in the house with no difficulty, but when it came to walks, he charged forward without any sort of reservations, panting against his collar digging into his neck as he leapt forward. Every little smell, leaf, and person on their journey distracted him. 

 After a few blocks, however, Hades began to ease up. He stopped tugging, and Lance found that he even ended up with a little bit of slack on the leash dangling between them. Soon he found himself enjoying the large dog's presence, as they meandered down street after street. 

 They turned a corner, and there she was: a tiny white cat with the fluffiest tail Lance had ever seen. 

 It happened almost in slow motion: the cat saw them. Hades's ears shot directly in the air. Saliva flew in little droplets from his mouth, shaggy hair in every direction. The slack leash pulled taught in seconds as Hades jumped forward, determination etched into every furry line on his face. Lance had no doubt in his mind that Hades would catch that cat. 

 He especially had no doubt when the leash slipped right through his fingers. 

 He snatched at the leash, but his fingers closed over air. Hades was gone in seconds, his tail pumping furiously. 

 After only a split second, Lance ran after him. He called his name, over and over, but Hades turned a corner, along with the white cat, and when Lance reached it, the street was empty. No dog, no cat, only bare pavement and grass, and Lance's hands began to shake. It was the first day. He'd had Shiro's dog for less than eight hours. And in all of his time as a dog walker, he'd never lost a dog. Never. 

 He spent the next thirty minutes meticulously scouring the area, calling Hades's name in an increasingly panicked tone, staring wide-eyed through frustrated tears. What could he do? He'd have to put out signs. Post ads online. Hope Shiro didn't see them. He'd have to refund Shiro's money and take the hit to his business. What if he never found Hades? What if something happened to him, if he got hit by a car? Lance's eyes stung and he ground his teeth together. 

 Of course he had to mess things up with the hot dog owner. 

 He pressed a hand to his mouth to smother his shaky, awkward laughter. 

 After twenty more minutes of searching, retracing every step he took three times, and trying not to panic, Lance plopped down on a curb. He was a failure. Hades must have caught that cat, or maybe he was injured or dying somewhere. Lance might as well give up. Quit dog walking, go back to working at his parents' crappy grocery store for less than minimum wage, where he couldn't even support himself. He buried his head in his arms and folded his knees up to his chest. 

 The world might be ending, Lance thought, but at the very least, he should let Shiro know what was going on, maybe. He lifted his head off of his knees and fished his cell phone out of his pocket. It wasn't like he had any chance with the guy now. 

 He scrolled through his call logs and selected the number. One ring, two. Shiro answered with a bright, "Hello, Lance. How's it going?"

 Lance licked his lips before answering, "Hi, Shiro, um. How's your evening going?"

 "Fine. How's yours?" Polite, to the point, sweet. Lance's heart twinged as he thought about how much this was going to hurt Shiro.

 He chewed on his bottom lip. "Well, it could be better, you see. I was walking Hades, he's a very big dog, I know you know that, and we went down this one street, and he saw a cat, you know, I guess he must like to chase cats?" Lance gave a shaky, empty laugh. "Well, uh, he pulled out of my hand and I couldn't catch him again and I've...spent the past hour or so looking for him. I'm so, so sorry, I'm still looking for him but I wanted to make you aware of the situation." His last words came out in a rush, his eyes squeezed shut to keep the tears in, phone pressed so hard to his face he was sure it would leave a mark. 

 There was a pause, silence that seemed to stretch on for a hundred years, while Lance's heartbeat roared in his ears, pounded in his head. Finally, Shiro replied, "Well, I know it's not your fault, and I appreciate you spending all of that time looking for him. What street did you lose him on?"

 "Altean Way," Lance responded, daring to crack open his eyelids. It had almost begun to get dark, threats of shadows behind the lampposts. 

 Shiro's breath on the other end seemed to indicate a sigh of relief. "That's not far from my apartment. He'll be coming my way, I'm sure. Why don't you come over? I don't go out of town until the morning, and we can wait for him together."

 Lance almost dropped the phone. His face broke out in a smile. "Oh--yeah, okay, if you think he'll turn up, that will be great!"

 In a matter of minutes, Lance’s fists hit Shiro’s door in a knock. The door opened surprisingly quickly and Shiro smiled down at Lance. 

 Trying to ignore how that smile made his insides turn over, Lance gave Shiro a sheepish grin back. “Hey, um. I’m so sorry about Hades.” The words fell out of his mouth like he was dropping them all at once and couldn’t grab onto any of them. 

 Shiro opened the door a little wider, and Lance wanted to swoon at the sight of him in gray sweatpants and a plum tee shirt that barely fit over his shoulders. “It’s okay. He’s done it before,” Shiro admitted. “Why don’t you come inside? I just made a pot of coffee.”

 Lance climbed the last stair before stepping inside Shiro’s apartment. White walls greeted him dimly, and Lance blinked for a moment before realising that only one small lamp in the small, clean living room offered its meager light. Shiro strode into the center of the living room and motioned for Lance to follow him into the kitchen. 

 “Nice place you have here,” Lance provided, as he stared around, looking for pictures or decorations or something that made this a home, but the small, plush purple couch and its haphazard assortment of cushions and throw pillows were the only splash of colour. Everything else was white, blank, empty. 

 Lance itched to decorate the place, to make it feel more homey, but instead he shoved his hands in his pockets and followed Shiro into the kitchen.

 It wasn’t all that much better. Gray countertops and shiny, spotless appliances greeted him with his reflection. Everything about this placed seemed...lonely. Lance chewed his lip; if this poor man had lost his dog, too, then Lance was surely going to ruin everything good in Shiro’s life. 

 Shiro poured Lance’s coffee into a mug that had that same sleek, gray aesthetic that a floor model home staged to sell to single upper class real estate agents might be interested in. Stiff, boring, uninhabited. Lance accepted the cup graciously. 

 “I just moved in a few months ago,” Shiro admitted, leaning back against the kitchen counter and scratching the back of his head. Lance noticed idly that the fingers on that hand had a different texture to them than the one holding his own cup of coffee, and it took him a moment to realise that Shiro’s hand was a prosthetic. 

 Lance nodded. “It’s very clean, very tidy,” he shrugged. He couldn’t think of what to say and the way Shiro’s deltoids bulged when he lifted his arm made Lance want to die a little inside. He kept worrying about the dog. “So, uh, do you want to sit outside and watch for Hades? Or will he scratch at his door or something?” He kept glancing around, trying not to oogle the well-muscled man in front of him. His leg jiggled, betraying him. 

 Shiro sipped his coffee, as if considering, then stood up fully, and Lance bit his lip, only to bury that fact in his own coffee mug. “Sure, that’s fine. We can sit on my steps, if you like.” He gestured for Lance to step forward, but as Lance moved toward the door, Shiro’s warm hand rested on his shoulder, and Lance’s heart began to pound. He didn’t expect the touch, didn’t know where it came from, but like hell was he going to shrug it off or reject it. If anything, Lance made sure not to walk too fast and dislodge the comforting presence on his shoulder. 

  They settled on the stoop, coffee mugs in hand, and Lance realised that despite his anxiety about Hades, he’d calmed down considerably, just by having Shiro nearby. Even with his heart racing and his thoughts positively drooling over Shiro’s physique, Lance weirdly found himself at home, at peace. 

 “So, tell me about yourself. How did you get Hades? Where do you work? Where did you live before you moved here?” The questions flew from Lance’s mouth again like rapid fire. 

 Shiro’s hand went to his hair again and Lance knew in that moment that if he wasn’t gay before, he was now. “So many questions,” he chuckled, then paused, and Lance squirmed in the silence. 

 “Sorry if that was too many,” he said finally, but Shiro shook his head. 

 “No, I was just thinking about Hades,” he admitted, hands resting on either side of his mug. He licked his lips. “I don’t think you could really say I adopted him, but he adopted me.” He chuckled, a laugh like the lightest of rumbles blooming from his throat. “I found him. He always comes back to me. He helped me get through my accident. Still helps me, I guess you could say.” Shiro looked down at his right hand, the prosthetic one. 

 Lance didn’t know what to say again, but Shiro continued, “I found him half starved in an alley. I hadn’t gotten my prosthetic then, and really I only wear it when I’m out of the house. I don’t like explaining myself, and people ask questions when you only have one arm, or they stare.” His expression changed then, eyes unfocused, the smile melting off his face. “So, I don’t know. It was nice to have people look at Hades and not at me. I named him that because I know that he’s been through hell and back, just like I have.” A dark smirk shaded half of Shiro’s mouth, and Lance’s insides squirmed in a not so good way. 

 Shiro’s far-off look didn’t fade, though, and Lance tentatively laid a hand on his new friend’s arm. Shiro’s eyes snapped onto Lance, wide and full of surprise, as if just realising that Lance was there. “I’m sorry,” Shiro apologised. “Sometimes I get a little… carried away by the past.”

 Lance smiled. His heart ached for Shiro, and he wanted nothing more than to make him feel better, feel lighter. “Oh, no, it’s okay, I mean. I hope he comes back soon. He means a lot to you,” he murmured. 

 Shiro’s response to Lance’s touch amazed him: visibly, his shoulders relaxed, face softening, and his eyes sparkled. “Thank you. I’m sure he’ll return soon. In the meantime, I have some wonderful company,” he finished smoothly.

 Lance was too young to go into cardiac arrest. Too. Young.   

 Instead, he turned away, towards the street, hoping Shiro didn’t notice the rising redness in his cheeks. Evening had begun to set in, and the cool air felt good on his warm cheeks. His leg began to jiggle again. 

 Shiro cleared his throat. Lance turned back and was surprised to see worry clouding Shiro’s eyes. “Did I upset you?” the man asked. 

 Lance shook his head hurriedly. “Oh, no, of course not. I just… didn’t know what to say.” His hands twisted up in his lap. “You have that effect on me.”

 Shiro’s smile was worth every second of potential embarrassment. “Is that so? That’s a shame. I’ve been enjoying talking to you.” He winked.

 Swallowing, Lance shook off his look of shock for a grin. Lance let his gaze travel over Shiro’s lips, which practically begged him to be kissed, but he settled for taking Shiro’s hand. “I’m glad we met,” he admitted sheepishly. “Even if I lost your dog.”

 “He’ll turn up,” Shiro responded, eyes glued to Lance. 

 And sure enough, Lance managed to drag his eyes away long enough to see the mop of a dog trotting up the road. Leaping to his feet, Lance whistled, “Hades! Hades, come here!”

 The dog bolted towards Shiro, who still managed to stumble when the giant ball of fur barreled into him. He laughed and grabbed his collar, then dragged him towards the door. 

 Lance quickly opened it to let them through and shut it behind them. Shiro released Hades, who immediately sniffed Lance’s pants and the floor and seventy other things. 

 Relieved, Lance grinned at Shiro. “He came home.”

 Shiro rested his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “He certainly did.”

 


End file.
